Recycled rubber construction materials

ABSTRACT

The present invention broadly comprises a construction material constructed from a plurality of flexible strips, the strips are helically wound upon one another to form a cylindrical pole. The pole may incorporate bolts, nails, screws and polymers for securing the flexible strips to one another. The construction material is generally constructed from discarded tires and may comprise a utility pole, a guardrail, a signpost and may be suitable for many other construction applications.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This non-provisional patent application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/329,554, filed on Oct. 16, 2001.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention broadly relates to the field of resource recycling, and more particularly, to a construction material formed from recycled rubber derived from waste tires.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Industrialized, as well as developing nations, currently face enormous solid waste disposal problems. Additionally, as technological advances lead to increased individual wealth and a greater distribution of wealth among a larger populace, more and more people are likely to increase their consumption of energy and consumer goods, in effect, increasing their production of solid waste. Methods of addressing solid waste disposal issues typically take the form of the clichéd mantra: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. As the well known saying indicates, individuals can reduce the solid waste burden by 1.) reducing their use of goods and services, 2.) reusing products more than once before being finally disposed, or 3.) recycling old products into new products. However, while the amount of raw materials required for the manufacture of many consumer products can be reduced and some consumer products, for instance: aluminum cans, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard, are easily reused or recycled, many consumer products are not. One consumer product not easily reused or recycled that represents an enormous solid waste disposal problem is discarded automobile and truck tires.

[0004] It is estimated that over 253 million waste tires are generated throughout the United States in one year alone, which represents roughly one tire for every person. According to Waste Age Magazine, scrap tires generate 3.9 million tons or 1.9% of municipal solid waste (MSW) by weight in the United States per year. Approximately 3.2 million tons of tires are incinerated or placed in landfills each year. In New York State alone, the Department of Environmental Conservation has estimated that there are more than 100 waste tire dumpsites that contain over 27 million tires; industry suggests that the number of tires stockpiled in New York is even greater and may range between 50 and 100 million tires.

[0005] Because of its physical characteristics, the vulcanized rubber pneumatic tire has proved to be both a blessing and a curse. Tires are manufactured to be durable; they withstand extreme environments and they do not easily wear out. However, because of these same advantageous properties, there is also no real easy way to dispose of them.

[0006] Three methods for disposing tires are currently practiced; tires are incinerated, buried or stockpiled. Incineration has been so unsatisfactory that it is now illegal in most jurisdictions. Burning tires causes a horrible stench and pollutes the air with toxic fumes and particles harmful to all life forms. Even expensive modern incineration devices, complete with scrubbers for the exhaust fumes, are inferior at destroying old tires. The steel belting materials clog the incinerator while the particulate carbon and sulfur compounds tend to foul the scrubbers. Burying waste tires is not a good solution either; tires have a tendency to prematurely fill dumpsites because their hollow shapes are particularly volume consuming and they do not easily compress or nest within one another. In addition, buried tires can pose problems if the tire compresses within the landfill and then rises up later and resurfaces. Because of the problems related to their disposal by burying, forty-four states currently restrict tire disposal at landfills. Tires that are not buried represent enormous public health problems as they can be fire hazards or serve as fertile breeding areas for mosquitoes and other vectors that can harbor disease such as West Nile Virus.

[0007] The difficulty in discarding worn out tires and the energy and raw materials required to manufacture them has inspired much effort to refurbish them for further use by retreading. These efforts have spawned entire industries presently listed on the New York Stock Exchange. However, there are several major problems with producing retreads. The new tread which is to be bonded to the old tire must be produced somewhere. Extensive amounts of energy are used to produce the heat required to bond the new tread to the old tire and, even then, that crucial bonding is not always well accomplished. In sum, there is probably as much energy used in pollution produced in the manufacture of a retreaded tire as in the production of the original tire. Here, as with incineration, the steel belts and cords used in modern tires pose severe obstacles to the successful completion of the process. Not all tires can be effectively recycled by the retreading process. For example, if the sidewall or sealing bead is damaged the tire cannot be reclaimed. In addition, the tire must have sufficient tread and meet stringent standards of flexibility, strength, air permeability, and appearance.

[0008] Recycling old tire carcasses into other useful articles has been pursued with limited success. Some propose the shredding of old tires for use as insulation material, perhaps mixed with other insulation materials such as vermiculite. This proposal does indeed recognize the important property of extremely low thermal conductivity of tires. However, the shredding process is difficult as steel belts are imbedded in the old tires.

[0009] There have also been numerous proposals to create all kinds of decorative and ornamental articles from the tires. Examples of such uses are flower planters, landscape dividers and mulch material. Two other applications of limited but useful merit will be familiar to all. Anyone from a farm or rural community will have seen a tire hung from a rope to form the familiar “tire swing”. Anyone living on or near a body of water will have seen old tires attached to the sides of docks for cushioning the impacts of boats. These particular uses of waste tires highlight the important and useful impact absorption properties of the tire material.

[0010] Numerous United States Patents have been granted for various and sundry articles made from old tires. The largest group of these Patents are concerned with providing highway safety dividers or barriers thus effectively utilizing the inherent impact energy absorption characteristics of the rubber. Bruner et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,913, shows an arrangement of side by side upright tire casings supported in a solid rubber block which is poured around the lower portions of the tires. Bruner also mentions the possible use of this arrangement as a breakwater. Ward, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,706, shows a highway bumper guard made from two tire casings arranged concentrically within one another and with the inner casing being filled with particulate material such as sand. Ward recognizes that this arrangement will absorb impact energy by virtue of the friction between the concentric tires. Yoho, U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,244, shows an arrangement of upright tire casing connected together in transverse lines and rows for the purpose of absorbing impact energy. Schaaf et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,600, discloses a traffic barricade or marker whose base is formed from a horizontal tire casing. Schaaf recognizes that the interior portion of the tire casing may be filled with a buoyant material thus forming a buoy marker.

[0011] Other miscellaneous exploitations of used tire casings are shown by Doring, U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,821 and by Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,434. Doring shows ground stabilization devices for embankments, etc. made from variously interconnected loops of tire treads with the sidewalls removed. Moore shows a means of stacking and interconnecting upright tires to form a fence. The tire fence is supported by partially burying the lower course of tires. Moore recognizes yet another important property of the tire material, low electrical conductivity. Moore exploits this property by stringing electrified barbed wire directly from his fence without the need for expensive electrical insulator offset devices of any kind.

[0012] The many and varied previous uses for old tire casings serve to illustrate and take advantage of the important property of chemical inertness. Tire casing material will not rot, decay, decompose, deteriorate, or easily disintegrate. Tire casings are impervious to attack from mold, fungus, or bacteria, or other microorganisms. Insects, rodents, birds, bats, deer, barnacles, and other animals cannot destroy tire casings. Corrosive agents, such as salt water and most acids, do not harm tire casings. Prolonged exposure to ultra-violet radiation does not degrade tire casing material. Tire material will withstand extreme climatic temperature ranges without substantial deterioration of its excellent strength and toughness characteristics. Thus, discarded tires recycled in the form of construction materials would be particularly advantageous.

[0013] It is estimated that there are between 80 and 135 million wood utility poles in the U.S., and that four million wood poles need to be replaced annually because of routine maintenance, accidents, construction, and the woodpecker. According the Wall Street Journal, “in a typical mid-size city, roughly 1,000 telephone poles have to be replaced every year because birds and then rain cause them to rot.”

[0014] Wood preserved utility poles represent enormous sources of toxic chemicals that are released into the environment and wood utility poles contain some of the most deadly, ubiquitous and persistent chemicals known to man. The major wood preservatives, including pentachlorophenol (penta or PCP), creosote, and arsenicals (Copper Chromium Arsenate (CCA)), are ranked among the most potent cancer agents, promoters of birth defects and reproductive problems, and nervous system toxicants. In sum, wood utility poles contain chemicals that, if used in other contexts, would be labeled hazardous waste as a result of their containing dioxin, furans and hexachlorobenzene. According to a report published by the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides (NCAMP), chemical wood preservatives account for the single largest pesticide use in the United States and perhaps the greatest pesticide threat to public health and environment with the conventional wood pole leaving a trail of poisoning and contamination from cradle to grave, beginning with the forestry practices used to grow the trees, to the production of the chemicals, to the wood treating facility, to the installation, use, storage and disposal of the treated wood.

[0015] In February 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicated that they had reached an agreement with representatives of the wood-preservative industry to begin phasing out the residential use of Copper Chromium Arsenate (CCA). It is estimated that this will affect about 5% of the overall toxic wood preservative market. CCA only accounts for approximately 10% of the overall market, while utility poles alone account for nearly 12% of all wood preservatives used in the United States.

[0016] In addition to comprising toxic threats, wood utility poles also represent safety threats because utility poles and signposts create serious roadside hazards for automobiles. In 1996 alone, 11,859 people died in roadside hazard crashes. Of those deaths, utility poles accounted for 9%, collisions with guardrails accounted for 9%, and collisions with signs and signposts accounted for 7% of the deaths.

[0017] Hence, in view of the fact that waste tires represent an enormous solid waste burden upon states and municipalities, that utility poles represent major sources of health and safety threats, and that reducing the use of wood and wood products, including over 100 million utility poles that are permeated with wood preservatives, would be environmentally beneficial, the manufacture of cost effective construction materials from recycled waste tires, for example, shock-absorbing poles, guardrails, and barriers, could solve enormous solid waste disposal problems while simultaneously addressing environmental and public health and safety concerns.

[0018] In addition to the Applicant, others have appreciated the need to utilize waste tires for increasing environmental health. U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,754 (Miller) discloses a construction pole formed from discarded waste tires. Miller's construction poles are formed by 1.) cutting waste tires such that they may be flattened, and 2.) by rolling and gluing the flattened tires upon one another to eventually form a pole. While Miller's methods ultimately form a pole made from waste tires, his methods of cutting the tires in order to flatten them out causes waste and does not incorporate the whole discarded tire into the pole. Additionally, substantial amounts of potentially environmentally toxic glues must be used to secure the tires to one another. Finally, the utility pole disclosed by Miller does not comprise any additional means, other than glue, for providing stability to the structure.

[0019] Accordingly, there is a long felt need for a utility pole constructed from discarded tires that utilizes the whole tire in its construction, does not use potentially toxic glues as a component of its construction, and which is structurally stable and aesthetically appealing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0020] The present invention broadly comprises a construction material comprising a plurality of flexible strips, the strips are helically wound upon one another to form a cylindrical pole. The pole includes means for securing the flexible strips to one another. The construction material is generally constructed from discarded tires and may comprise a utility pole, a guardrail, a signpost and may be suitable for many other construction applications.

[0021] A general object of the present invention is to utilize waste tires such that they reduce the solid waste disposal burden.

[0022] Another object of the present invention is to provide a construction material that does not represent a toxic threat to the environment.

[0023] A further object of the invention is to provide a construction material, which increases highway safety and reduces the incidence of highway injury and death.

[0024] These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description of the invention in view of the drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The nature and mode of operation of the present invention will now be more fully described in the following detailed description of the invention taken with the accompanying drawing figures, in which:

[0026]FIG. 1 is a view of a utility pole in accordance with the present invention;

[0027]FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a utility pole of the present invention;

[0028]FIG. 3 is a side, cutaway view showing the construction of the utility pole of the present invention;

[0029]FIG. 4 is an illustration of a typical waste tire;

[0030]FIG. 5 is an illustration of the method of cutting a waste tire for purposes of preparing construction materials to form the tire pole of the present invention;

[0031]FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention comprising a hollow core;

[0032]FIG. 7 is an illustration of a method for securing a utility pole of the present invention; and,

[0033]FIG. 8 is a drawing which illustrates helically winding portions of a discarded tire according to the present invention known in the art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0034] It should be appreciated at the outset that, in the detailed description that follows, like reference numbers on different drawing views are intended to identify identical structural elements of the invention in the respective views. Additionally, it should also be appreciated that the particular embodiment disclosed herein, infra, is presented solely for purposes of illustration; in no way is the scope of the present invention limited to the particular embodiment disclosed herein. Indeed, while a utility pole is described in the following detailed disclosure, it should be appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art that the construction material of the present invention may be utilized for other purposes; for example the construction material may be formed to serve as a signpost, guardrail or other device.

[0035] Adverting now to the Figures, FIG. 1 shows utility pole 10 constructed from discarded tires. As is apparent, the utility pole of the present invention appears similar to a conventional utility pole and may be operatively arranged for securing power, telephone, cable, and like lines. While not apparent from FIG. 1, utility pole 10 is subject to many environmental hazards such as high and low temperatures, rain, snow, sleet, high winds, mold, mildew, fungus, animals and automobiles. However, unlike conventional wooden utility poles, the utility pole of the present invention does not comprise a concoction of harsh and toxic chemicals in order to address many of the environmental hazards listed supra.

[0036] Referring now to FIGS. 2-6, the utility pole of the present invention is generally constructed in the following manner: as shown more clearly in FIGS. 4 and 5, discarded tires 30 are first disassembled by removing the sidewalls 34 from tread 32. The tread and sidewalls 30 are then cut crosswise so that the sidewall and tread components can be laid out in flat strips. Flat strips 22 (shown in FIGS. 3,6 and 8) are then fed into an industrial winding machine of a type known in the art. As shown in FIG. 8, industrial winding machine 80 for helically winding flat strips 22 generally comprises a plurality of pressure rollers 81 and 82, which press against and feed the strips 22 into the winding apparatus. The winding machine further comprises a plurality of winder rollers 83, 84 and 87, which wind the strips about one another to form the utility pole of the present invention. As is apparent, the industrial winding machine also comprises pressure roller 86, which asserts pressure upon the utility pole 10 and strips 22 for preventing unraveling. Unravelling of the strips may also be further prevented by applying an appropriate adhesive to the strips during the winding process, preferably after the strip has passed the rollers, and upon that side of the strip that contacts the utility pole as it winds. Unravelling may also be prevented by fastening the strips to the pole as it winds, for example, by means of nails, staples or the like. As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 8 the winding machine helically winds the strips upon one another to form a cylindrical pole of desired diameter.

[0037] Strips may be wound about a cylindrical mandrel if desired. The mandrel may be solid, hollow, adapted for later removal from the core of the formed pole and constructed from a wide range of material depending upon desired use of the pole. For example, if the pole were to be used as a utility pole, the mandrel may be hollow for passing utility wires 44 the like (shown in FIG. 6); where the pole is used as a guardrail, one may consider a hollow mandrel comprising additional shock absorbing materials. As shown in FIG. 6, the utility pole comprises hollow core 42 for passing utility wires 44.

[0038] During the winding process, layers 24 can be bonded and/or mechanically fastened to one another by means of epoxy resins, polymers, nails or the like, or a combination thereof. Upon completion of the winding and bonding process upon achieving a desired diameter pole, metal or other rigid, tubes 25 may be inserted through the diameter of the pole at various desired intervals. The hollow tubes may comprise flared ends, that can be bent about the pole to secure the tube thereto; the flared hollow tube would further serve to bind the layers of wound tire strips together and would also act as a sleeve to pass bolts therethrough for purposes of fastening attachments to the pole, such as a base member 52 (shown in FIG. 7), for fastening the pole to an adjoining pole, or for passing utility lines therethrough.

[0039] The entire pole is then cut to a length and may be encased in a suitable encasing material 20 such as a polymeric resin, thermoplastic coated material, fiberglass or the like, to add rigidity, uniformity and aesthetic appeal to each pole. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A construction material comprising: a plurality of flexible strips, said strips helically wound upon one another to form a cylindrical pole; and securing means for securing said strips to one another.
 2. The construction material of claim 1 further comprising encasing means for encasing said pole.
 3. The construction material of claim 1 wherein said flexible strips are rubber.
 4. The construction material of claim 3 wherein said flexible strips correspond to sidewalls and treads of a tire and are cut therefrom.
 5. The construction material of claim 1 wherein said securing means comprises polymer resin.
 6. The construction material of claim 1 wherein said securing means is a fastener.
 7. The construction material of claim 6 wherein said fastener is selected from the group consisting of nails, screws and staples.
 8. The construction material of claim 1 further comprising a central longitudinally disposed mandrel upon which said flexible layers are helically wound.
 9. The construction material of claim 8 wherein said mandrel is hollow.
 10. The construction material of claim 8 wherein said mandrel is operatively arranged for removal.
 11. The construction material of claim 1 further comprising a flared hollow tube disposed through said construction material.
 12. The construction material of claim 11 wherein said flared hollow tube is disposed through a diameter of said cylindrical pole.
 13. The construction material of claim 1 comprising a utility pole.
 14. The construction material of claim 1 adapted to form a guardrail.
 15. A cylindrical pole comprising: a plurality of flexible strips, said strips helically wound upon one another to form said cylindrical pole; securing means for securing said strips to one another; and, encasing means for encasing said pole.
 16. A method of producing a pole comprising: cutting the sidewalls and treads from a tire to form separate flat strips; helically winding said strips upon one another and securing said strips to one another to form a cylindrical pole of desired diameter; encasing said cylindrical pole. 